1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the iontophoretic administration of topical or systemic ionizable or polar medicaments to a mammalian body, which medicaments are responsive to an electric field, and, more especially, to the administration of denatured or undenatured proteins, with or without a metallic component, to a wound, lesion, or the like, under the influence of an electric field. The invention also relates to articles adapted for use in practicing the present method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a recognized need to provide protection for a wound, lesion, or the like, on an animal body during the healing thereof. My co-pending application Ser. No. 570,384, as well as my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,228, are devoted to furnishing methods and articles to this end. Specifically, these earlier works have provided, as a common thread, the ability to form an adherent, skin-like collagen membrane over such damaged areas in order to minimize contamination of the wound with, for example, infectious or other foreign materials, while alleviating pain and loss of body fluids during the healing process. Fundamentally, collagen is caused to form a biological junction with damaged collagen fibrils at the wound site under the influence of an applied electric field.
The utility of an electric field in medical treatment is, of course, well known. For example, it has been commonplace to provide bandage-like articles with electrodes comprised of dissimilar metallic materials to create a galvanic cell for various types of clinical treatment. These articles, conventionally termed voltaic plasters, have been devised for the iontophoretic administration of certain medicaments through a patient's skin. Note, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 116,562, 175,974, 222,276, 393,741, and 1,967,927.
The prior art voltaic plasters suffer numerous, significant disadvantages, however. Perhaps the most important is the tendency for electrode burns due to the materials employed, chiefly based upon copper and zinc as the dissimilar materials for the galvanic cell. Also, the efficacy of the prior art devices in terms of the ability to effectively deliver a medicament has led to their desuetude.
Currently, when it is desired to iontophoretically administer topical medicaments, external power sources are employed. Note, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,166, as well as my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,228.
Because of the prior art inability to effectively deliver medicaments, notwithstanding deleterious side-effects from the very nature of the galvanic cell construction from dissimilar active metals, and further in light of the undesirability of employing an external power source, the need exists to provide improved voltaic plasters which are extremely efficient in the delivery of medicaments, and which do not suffer the problems of, e.g., electrode burns. Additionally, the need exists for such delivery devices which are simple, but efficient, both in terms of construction and individual use by the consuming public. Moreover, the need exists to provide an iontophoretic delivery system for a broad range of ionizable or polar medicaments not, hitherto, employed to these ends.